Murkowski proposing bullet line legislation

Bill would lift hurdle to Parks Highway route by allowing for right of way through Denali National Park and Preserve

Eric Lidji

Petroleum News

Sen. Lisa Murkowski is proposing a bill to allow a gas pipeline to cross a national park.

The bill, called The Denali National Park and Preserve Natural Gas Pipeline Act, would remove one of the longest-standing hurdles to construction of an in-state gas pipeline from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska routed along the Parks Highway.

The Parks Highway route is preferred by Enstar Natural Gas, a local utility studying the feasibility of the “bullet line” project. The Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, a public corporation, has studied a similar pipeline project running down the Richardson Highway as a way to avoid the state and federal parklands along the Parks Highway.

In a statement, Murkowski, R-Alaska and ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the legislation isn’t about picking a winner.

“It’s not my desire to prejudge the outcome of which project or route should be selected, since that decision will be made by Alaska state regulators and financial markets,” Murkowski said. “I’m proposing this bill simply to remove uncertainty about the cost of constructing a pipeline along the Parks Highway. Removing the uncertainty of permitting and regulatory delays will at least allow the Parks Highway route to compete on a level playing field with the Richardson and Glenn Highway routes.”

The Palin administration favored the Richardson Highway route last summer because it passes by natural gas prospects on state land. In a more recent push to spur the project, the state has announced plans for an “alternatives analysis” to compare the two routes.

Enstar believes it can get right of way through some seven miles of Denali National Park, but has also said it is prepared to go around the park, at added expense, if need be.

Although bullet line proposals have been around for years, the project has gathered momentum in recent months as supply shortages loom in Cook Inlet as soon as 2014, years before a larger diameter pipeline into Canada could provide gas to Alaskans.

The bullet line would carry up to 500 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Without large industrial customers to diffuse costs, natural gas from a bullet line along any route would likely be more expensive than gas from a spur jutting off a mainline.